JEREMY Corbyn will change his mind and allow a second independence referendum to be held next year, Nicola Sturgeon insisted just minutes after he ruled out a Labour Government facilitating one for “two years at least”.

The First Minister’s argument was that the Labour leader would not sacrifice getting his policies through Westminster just to block a 2020 vote on Scotland’s future and came after Mr Corbyn revealed that he would stay “neutral” in any second referendum campaign during the BBC Question Time leader’s special in Sheffield.

The move prompted a strong Conservative response with Dominic Raab, the Foreign Secretary, declaring: “How can you claim to be a leader if you're neutral on the biggest issue of this election, the biggest issue facing the country?"

Each of the four main party leaders were quizzed for half an hour by the audience and came under intense pressure with at times its members laughing and groaning at the politicians’ responses.

Boris Johnson refused to apologise over his use of language, again came under pressure on the issue of trust and defended Tory austerity.

Mr Corbyn came under fierce scrutiny when he was questioned about business fears over his “reckless socialist ideas,” anti-Semitism, misogyny, and Scottish independence.

After the two-hour joust with voters, the so-called “spin room” was full of loud exchanges as politicians and party aides sought to convince journalists their leader had performed best.

At one point, there was a loud exchange before TV cameras, involving Mr Raab, the Foreign Secretary, and Labour’s Andy Macdonald over the Conservatives’ pledge to instigate a party inquiry into Islamophobia.

During the programme, Mr Corbyn was keen to highlight how the £100 billion Labour is pledging to invest in Scotland over 10 years would be a “massive game-changer”.

But challenged on indyref2, he said a Labour Government would not support an independence referendum in its “early years”.

Pressed on what the term "early years" meant, the Labour leader replied: "The…first two years, at least."

However, Ms Sturgeon later suggested he would change his mind, arguing Mr Corbyn was not "going to walk away from the chance to end austerity".

She stressed: "I'm not sure he's going to compromise the chance to have a Labour Government for that issue."

The SNP leader said she did “not envisage being in a coalition government" but rather have a "less formal" arrangement should there be a minority Labour administration.

However, in a move that could seriously limit Mr Corbyn’s ability to get policies through Westminster, Ms Sturgeon made clear SNP MPs would not vote on matters which did not relate to Scotland like the NHS, meaning a Labour government would only be able to routinely rely on the votes of Nationalist MPs on UK-wide matters.

Christine Jardine for the Liberal Democrats told The Herald: “It’s quite clear the SNP would put Jeremy Corbyn in No 10. So, people in Scotland need to know; vote Nicola, get Jeremy.”

Her leader Jo Swinson sought to emphasis the clarity of the party’s policy on Remain but came under intense pressure over her voting record as part of the Lib-Con coalition. “We absolutely got it wrong on tuition fees,” the Scot acknowledged.

Later, Lib Dem sources accepted their leader had suffered highly uncomfortable questions but responded by saying this was “a good thing; it showed Jo’s steeliness”.

During his grilling, the PM was quizzed about his articles as a journalist with host Fiona Bruce referring to how he had written about “Muslims going around looking like letterboxes…tribal warriors with watermelon smiles and flag-waving pickaninnies".

The audience scoffed when Mr Johnson replied: "If you go through all my articles with a fine-tooth comb and take out individual phrases, there is no doubt you can find things that can be made to seem offensive and, of course, I understand that."

Pressed heavily on the non-release of the Intelligence and Security Committee report on Russian interference into Britain’s democratic processes, the Tory leader insisted normal procedure had been followed, declaring with exasperation: “This is Bermuda Triangle stuff.”

Later, Mr Raab sought to talk up his leader’s performance, insisting: “There was only one Prime Minister on the stage: Boris Johnson,” adding he had won the debate "hands down".

But Labour's Laura Pidcock described Mr Corbyn’s performance as a bit of "game-changer".

"Boris Johnson was woefully inadequate. This man wants to be Prime Minister but he couldn't apologise for previous examples of racism, he couldn't be humble about that and say sorry.”

She added: “This was incredibly positive for the Labour Party tonight."